


Mixed Martial Arc

by mkspotlights



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action, Drama, Martial Arts, Mixed Martial Arts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 06:56:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18566251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mkspotlights/pseuds/mkspotlights
Summary: Jaune Arc always wanted to be remembered. Doing his best to avoid any sort of violent confrontation, Jaune strove to be someone important, a hero. That is until one day a hooded girl with silver eyes rescues him from the beating of his life time. Now she wants him to train to become a mixed martial artist? What!





	1. Round 1

Jaune wasn't running away.

He liked to think of it as a tactical retreat. You see, running away implied fear, thus giving the power to the villains. No, absolutely not. In actuality, it was all a part of his plan. He was totally in control and the retreat was only the first step. Jaune just needed to find out what came next.

Jaune was taking the high road and avoiding direct confrontation. If it so happened the high road ensured his face didn’t get pounded into a fine paste, well, that would be strategic genius.

It all started as a noble gesture. Save the girl from some bullies, feel heroic in doing so, head home for the day knowing he did a good deed, and give himself a pat on the back.

So when he stumbled on the giant of a man pulling on the ears of a girl who looked agonized and frankly terrified, Jaune pushed himself to act. He tossed his bagged lunch at the lead bully’s head and took a moment to be proud of himself, but Jaune forgot to account for a very important detail.

He had no idea of what to do when he became a target. Sure, he was bullied in high school, but it never got physical. There were always teachers there or some type of security, if not, he could always escape to the counselor’s office. When the remains of his sandwich dripped off the leader’s face, the look on the bully’s face told Jaune it was about to get very physical.

That’s why when the four bullies started advancing towards him, he followed his time-honored tradition of facing bullies, by booking it out of there.

What else was he supposed to do? All the lessons he learned in school were on how to handle himself in the workplace, a professional setting. Teachers never taught him how to defend himself and his family didn’t believe in perpetuating violence. If the group caught up to or cornered him, he wouldn’t know how to handle the situation.

Jaune didn’t know how to fight.

With that thought in mind, he focused on pumping one foot in front of the other, as the shouting bullies chased him. As he turned down the corner of a side street he allowed himself to snag a peek through his blonde locks. He was relieved to see that the racists had let the girl be. Mission success.

That relief was short-lived when the very red, and very angry face of the lead bully popped into view. The chase was still on and the bullies were gaining ground. Jaune ran faster. When he faced forward again, he came face to face with every hero’s worst nightmare, a brick wall. Juane felt his manly rep wouldn’t hold it against him when a whimper left his lips.

The back door to a shop provided the only exit and when Jaune tried the handle, it was locked. 

Of course.

Could he ram the door down? No, but maybe he could scale the wall, or hide in the dumpster and hope the bullies wouldn’t find him.

Jaune chewed at his lower lip as indecision prevented him from picking any option.

The sounds of multiple footsteps behind him coming to a stop told Jaune his time had run out. With a shaky laugh he turned towards the group, raised his palms, and proceeded with his last option. Diplomacy.

Time to put the Arc charm to work.

“H-Hey fellas, how’s it going? Name’s Jaune, funny situation we’re in isn't it?” he said, eyes darting around as he looked for any way out.

“Very funny situation. I’m practically rolling in laughter, Jauney boy,” said the leader of the group, definitely not laughing.

The leader of the group was huge, a walking tank of a man, who stood dead center in the alleyway. The other three members of the group slowly surrounded Juane and closed off all angles of escape. “You and I have a problem,” said the lead bully, as he pointed a finger to Juane and jerked his thumb towards himself.

“What, problem? There’s no problems, I just thought we could be friends you know?” Jaune began as he backed up. For every step the group took towards him, a sharp and stilted laugh bubbled from his lips, “I like to think of it as a small prank.”

“Oh, friends of course we can be friends. Right Russel?” asked the leader to a skinnier member of the group with a large mohawk.

“Yeah, Cardin. Best friends,” Russell answered as the group continued to close the distance.

“Great, best friends it is. That was even a good prank too Jauney, so let me show you what our group does when we’re ‘pranked’,” Cardin said with emphasis on the last word. His large frame looked to take up the whole alleyway from where Jaune stood.

Jaune gulped once and tried to take another step backwards, only to find it impossible as his back came into contact with brick. Plan ‘tactical retreat’ had failed and now he had to deal with the repercussions.

“C-Can’t we talk about this? Cardin, Buddy, why don’t we let bygones be bygones, you were bullying a girl you know? I won’t tell anyone so let’s call it even,” he said as he leaned against the wall, not trusting in his shaking legs to support him.

“Ha, the Faunus, that’s why you tried to be a knight in shining armor? For something that doesn’t even stand up for itself. That whole mess wasn’t even worth my time, but it bumped into me and I couldn’t let that thing get away with dirtying me right?” Cardin said both to Jaune and his lackeys, who snickered along with the large man.

Jaune didn't laugh.

The large man closed the distance to where Jaune could feel Cardin’s breath on his face. Cardin took one moment to look down upon him, reared his hand back and said, “I had to teach it a lesson, and Jauney boy, it looks like you need one too.”

Jaune would have been ashamed at the scream that peeled from his lips, but he’d need the brain processing to feel that. At the current moment, pain was the only signal exploding from his brain.

Cardin swung his meaty fist. Juane, frozen against the brick wall, caught Cardin’s fist with his face. A wet smacking sound echoed in the alleyway, as his teeth rattled from the blow.

His head lurched to the side and would have dragged his body to the floor if it wasn't for Cardin’s other hand grabbing him by his black hoodie. 

Cardin balled up the material, twisted his fist, and hoisted the smaller boy up in the air and against the brick wall. The first hand was quickly followed by the second as they both grabbed fistfuls of material and slammed Jaune once, twice, thrice against the cold unrelenting brick.

Jaune could taste blood as his vision flickered. He tried to focus, do anything to protect himself; and strike back or defend against Cardin; but his brain simply was overloaded and it took all his effort just to bring his hands up in front of his face.

Cardin slammed him once more for good measure and released him, but before Jaune could fall into a heap, a fist buried itself in his gut.

Mercifully nothing followed, he fell to the ground, and curled into a ball as he cradled his stomach. The blow had knocked the breath out of him, and in combination with the prior damage, couldn't formulate any plans other than to shell up and protect his more important bits.

What followed next was inaudible to Jaune as his head was still ringing from the blows, but he did get the mocking tone of the group who drew closer to see his misery. 

Jaune felt a wet smack when a glob of spit hit him on his cheek. He would have thanked Cardin if that was it, but soon after a boot slammed into his arms curled around his stomach. Cardin continued his assault. 

The others soon joined in, stomping and kicking at Jaune who lay among the refuse in the alley.

Jaune wanted to be a hero; he had wanted to be one since he was little, when he read comic books and watched films about superpowered people protecting innocents against the forces of evil. He used to play pretend back then. He would of course be the hero who swooped in, beat the bad guys and saved the day.

At that memory, a sour taste rose up his throat. That or bile spilled from his lips when Cardin found an open spot and slammed a kick into his abused stomach. Some hero, he thought as he lay in his own vomit.

If someone was listening to the commotion they would have heard screams, pleading, begging, and eventually whimpers as the beating continued. The group must have been holding back or measuring their strength as the abuse continued on for minutes. 

They flaunted his uselessness in his face and took pleasure in dominating the blonde.

Jaune hoped for unconsciousness to take him, but thankfully it did not, as he would have missed what happened next.

“Hey, what are you guys doing?!” A high-pitched voice echoed in the alleyway, causing the group of bullies to pause as they turned to see the owner of the voice.

Through one teary eye, Jaune was able to make out the new person.

The person who caused Cardin and his crew to pause in their beating would only be chest high to Jaune if he was standing. Though small, she seemed uncaring about being in an alley with five unknown men. The diminutive girl wore a ruby-red hoodie that partially obscured her face. Her silver eyes burned holes into the group standing above Jaune.

Cardin, unfazed by the slip of a girl, used Jaune as a welcome mat, as he stepped and grinded his boot into the boy’s shoulder. He cocked an eyebrow at the girl and said, “We’re just teaching our buddy a lesson. Isn't that right, Jaune?”

Jaune wished for someone to save him, but he couldn’t involve someone so frail looking. With a grimace at the idea of a continued beating, he reluctantly nodded.

Cardin took that in stride and stepped heavily on Jaune as he said, “See, so why don’t you scram kid.”

As the girl pulled her hood down, revealing short cut black hair with a bit of red on the tips, her glare grew in intensity and said, “Leave him alone.”

Cardin’s lackeys slowly drew closer to the girl, intending to surround her like they did Jaune. As they advanced, Cardin just laughed, “Nah, I don’t really feel like it.”

That must have been the trigger of a starter pistol, as the girl shot off at the nearest lackey, the guy named Russell. 

The athletic wear she wore allowed for ease of moment, as she effortlessly twisted to the right side of the mohawked boy.

The brunette spun around the groping hand of Russell and drew her own hands up to rest firmly on each side of her cheek. While Russell overshot his approach at his opponent's quick change of direction, the girl drove her right palm into the boy’s face.

Russell fell, but the girl had already moved on to the next member of the group. She didn’t see Russell collapse in a heap nor did she see that he did not get up.

There was a brief pause as Cardin and his group stood slack jawed at how a girl had knocked out one of their own with what was essentially a slap.

In their shock the girl shot forward to meet the nearest standing group member, a hazel-haired boy. 

The brunette took a short hop towards the boy, twisted in a movement Jaune missed, her left hand staying glued to her cheek as her right fanned horizontally across the air. At the same time, her right leg shot up, and with a crack, slammed her shin into the hazel-haired boy’s neck. Much like Russell, the boy fell to the ground and did not stir.

The shock of losing two members of their group to a girl much smaller than all of them wore off, as Cardin stepped off Jaune and approached alongside the last standing lackey.

At this, the girl took a few quick steps backwards to create distance from the bullies. Both arms were up, bent much like before, but now her palms faced the advancing men.

Cardin and the last boy, not wanting to give the girl space, charged forward with grins on their faces. They had her out numbered and the bullies knew it. 

Their grins did not last long as the girl shot forward, meeting their charge.

This startled the two men as one rushed a grab and the other a threw sloppy punch.

Both missed. The girl side-stepped to the left, placing herself on the side of the last lackey, and stood in a position that placed the lackey and Cardin in-line. The girl shot forward and brought her leg up in a skipping motion, but instead of jumping for joy, she kicked her foot into the chest of the still recovering boy.

The boy gasped as he flung into Cardin’s chest, pushing back both of them.

The girl took advantage of this, slid forward, and drove her right palm into the bridge of the last lackey’s nose.

A wet crack sounded off as the boy collapsed, clutching his face. Cardin now warily watched the girl as he held his arms wide, as if waiting for an opportunity to subdue her.

The girl, not even breathing hard from the explosive activity, eyed Cardin back as a standoff occurred.

The stalemate broke when Cardin charged forward with a shout, his burly arms spread wide now closing towards the girl, intended to use his size advantage and grab her.

The Brunette, unfazed, used her left hand to push aside Cardin’s right hand towards her right side, off balancing the boy. 

Next, using her right hand, she grasped his right wrist, and pulled his arm as she spun in a twisting maneuver too fast to understand. 

The girl turned in a way that her shoulder now touched Cardin’s and completed her movement by bringing her left elbow horizontally across the man’s jaw. Still off balanced from the quick movements Cardin wasn’t prepared for the unexpected blow.

From the floor of the alley, Jaune saw Cardin’s eyes roll back into his head as the large man joined his group slumped on the floor.

What felt like an hour of intensive action likely only took a minute, an explosive, chaotic minute. The alley drew back into silence.

Jaune was able to push himself into a sitting position against the brick wall as he watched the girl check over each boy and turn them onto their sides.

Her silver eyes met his blue, and the girl’s fierce expression turned into a tender smile.

“Are you okay?” she asked, as she crouched down near him.

Jaune eloquently inquired about what just had happened when he said, “Bwuh?”

The girl laughed as she started running her fingers over his appendages.

Jaune felt heat creep up his neck when he stuttered out, “W-What are you doing?”

The silver eyed girl continued her ministrations, her hands roved up his calf towards his thigh, and paused to wrap her fingers around his knee for a moment before continuing higher.

Jaune felt an awkward tightness in his pants when he shrilly said, “I-We just met, don’t you think you're moving too fast?”

The girl's eyebrows drew together, with a tilt of her head, as looked up from her work with an odd expression. “I do move fast, it’s kind of my specialty.”

The pain of being beaten by Cardin and his gang quickly became secondary to the hysteria building up in him. Before he turned into a blubbering lump he said, “I just think that now isn't the right time to grope me.”

Jaune watched the girl’s eyes drift off in thought before she glanced down at her hands, that were now on his thigh, and then looked back up. This repeated a few times, growing rapidly in speed, until she appeared to teleport away from Jaune and stood several paces away.

Her face was as red as her hoodie when she cried out, “T-That's not what I was doing! I was checking you for injuries, making sure you hadn’t broken anything!”

Realization dawned on the blonde as he cursed his hormones and his stupid, rattled brain. He mumbled, “You can finish the job and kill me now. It would honestly be a mercy killing. End my suffering.”

A few moments of silence passed where both members used the time to calm down.

Jaune spoke first hoping to not embarrass himself a second time. “Thanks for helping, what's your name if you don't mind me asking?”

The girl answered, smiling even with a slight blush, “Ruby Rose.”

Jaune gave Ruby a warm smile and reached to shake her hand. He replied, “Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. The ladies love it.”

“Do they?”

“No, not really.”

Ruby at least giggled at the lame joke and asked, “Nice to meet you Jaune, are you alright?”

“I am. Probably will be hurting tomorrow, but I think I'll live.”

“Yeah, your bones seemed alright. You might want to ice, well, everything when you get home and stretch if you can.”

“Thanks for saving me by the way, you're pretty amazing.”

“Nah, I'm pretty normal. You should see my sister,” she said with a snort.

Soon after, her eyebrows scrunched together and she asked, “What was going on in the first place? Why were you guys fighting?”

At that, Jaune shrugged when he said, “It wasn't much, they were just bullying a girl and I stepped in. Though I wouldn't call what happened a fight. When they cornered me, they just started wailing on me.”

The scrunch was back as her brows furrowed in confusion. She asked, “You didn’t fight back?”

“How could I? They're way bigger and stronger than me.”

“You can't just do nothing Jaune.”

“Yeah, but I don't even know how to defend myself, I’m not some super awesome ninja like you.”

At that, Ruby broke out into a grin. Cheerfully she said, “I can teach you.”

“Huh?”

“Well, maybe not me since I’m still learning too, but maybe my sister or my Uncle. They’re the ones who taught me how to fight,” she said, while making chopping actions with her hands.

“I don't think-”

“No, no, no. It'll be awesome! Oh, Oh, you could come join our gym! You'll love it! We have an awesome sauna, a pool, all these weights, and we even have our own cage!”

“Wait what, a cage?”

“Yeah duh,” she said with a snort. “How else would you train to be a fighter, silly.”

“A fighter?!”

“Yeap,” she said, making the p sound pop. “You’re looking at Vale’s best professional fighter. Well, soon to be, once I get my license.”

Jaune paled a bit thinking about being locked in a cage with people like Ruby. “Uhmmmm, I’m not sure.”

“What! No, pleaseeee Jaune. It'll be great, just give it a shot,” she said with her hands clasped together, her eyes leaking small tears as she pouted.

“No, Ruby I can't fight, it's not something I can do.”

“Sure you can, you just have to try. No one starts off great. Jaune, pleaseeeeeeeeeee,” cried Ruby, her pout intensifying in power until Jaune had no other choice, but to give in. 

That pout could likely be weaponized.

“Alright, alright, Ruby can I at least think about it?”

“Yes, thanks Jaune!” Ruby said, as she cheered and twirled in a circle. After a few more rotations in her impromptu celebration, she bent down and offered Jaune a hand up.

When he was finally up she handed him a velvety soft card embossed with the symbol of two hatchets crossed over each other. When he flipped the card, he read the name and address to “Beacon Academy for Martial Arts”.

While Jaune stared at the card, Ruby stood proud, pointed a finger at him and said, “I promise you won’t regret it. To make it even better, the first class is free!”

Not being able to resist her cheer, Jaune chuckled, but was cut short due to pain. He said, “Thanks again, Ruby. I think I’ll sleep on it.” 

“Ok, bye Jaune I’ll see you at Beacon,” Ruby said, as she skipped out of the alley.

Jaune took one look around himself. There was his vomit splattered on the concrete, splatters of blood and the still unconscious bodies of Cardin and his gang.

All this was done by a girl who barely reached the height of his chest, and she wanted him to train with her? To be a fighter?

Not wanting to be here when Cardin woke up, Jaune limped his way out of the alleyway still pondering what happened.

As the rush of adrenaline faded away and the aches and pains became more prominent, his fingers trailed over the card Ruby gave him.

Did he want to do it? His family always preached how violence wasn't the answer. Something everyone in his family followed, even all of his seven sisters. Could he bring himself to actually learn how to hurt someone, and be the first to break the family motto? With a sigh, Jaune headed home with the question still bouncing around his head.

Could he be the first ever Martial Arc?


	2. Round 2

“Here we go! This is tonight’s main event to determine who will be fighting for one of the coveted spots in the upcoming championship fight. In the red corner hailing from Mistral, Vernal the Phoenix.” The announcer paused to let the roar of the crowd play out before continuing, “Her opponent fighting out of the blue corner all the way from Vacuo, May Zedong.” The crowd took their cue and stirred to a frenzy as they cheered and booed the other fighter.

The two girls walked to the center of the caged arena, their noses almost touching, and glared at each other. They continued their stare down until another lady, a tall blonde, broke them up and began reading off the rules. The referee for the night asked if they were both ready. When both fighters nodded the fight began.

Vernal started it off by immediately charging in, she leapt into the air and thrust her right hand out at her opponent using momentum, gravity, and raw fury to add power to her strike.

May, the fighter in blue, crossed both hands over her head as she defended the attack and immediately responded with a fierce knee to the stomach when Vernal landed.

The two women began a quick series of exchanges, where one would be on the offensive, throwing out a move, while the other would defend and respond in kind. Vernal appeared to be the more aggressive fighter as she often charged in, blitzing her smaller opponent. Zedong on the other hand preferred a more defensive approach, choosing her strikes with sniper like precision.

Sweat was flying around and the occasional grunt would sound in the arena when an attack found its mark. The crowd was on fire, shouting at the top of their lungs in an uproar, as they watched two humans brutalize each other under the spotlights.

The contestants appeared to be evenly matched until Vernal noticed a subtle chink in the other’s armor. When May threw a round curving punch, Vernal ducked it and dove for the girl’s legs. 

May caught in the momentum of her swing stood helpless, unable to escape being taken to the ground, slamming her head on the floor. Disoriented from the exchange May didn’t notice Vernal, until she was already straddling her chest. 

Jaune had to close the browser on his scroll shortly after, when Vernal unleashed a brutal series of punches to the other girl’s head. The girl on her back tried to dislodge her opponent, but by then she had taken one too many hits, her eyes already dimming. 

The last frame displayed on the screen before it powered down was the image of the Phoenix in the midst of a punch that shattered her opponent’s nose, splattering her in blood. All while a cruel sneer played on her face.

He didn’t know what he expected to find when he searched ‘cage fighting’, but what he just witnessed firmly set Ruby in a different light. If she trained to do what he just saw, he couldn’t blame himself for the spike of fear running up his back for Ruby wanted Juane to train with her too.

The video wasn’t even unique in what it showed. From his searches he found a myriad of videos depicting similar scenes of violence, sometimes they were short clips where one fighter defeated the other with a quick maneuver. Others were long 25 minute meat grinding, where each fighter tried to wear down his opponent, their faces little more than swollen lumps of flesh at the end of it all. There were even highlights and compilation videos, which displayed a specific fighter’s accomplishments, accompanied with flashy music, as they demolished their opponents. 

The community celebrated savagery. 

The videos depicting cage fighting presented an explosive, frightening and brutal world. It was raw. Just two fighters in a ring until one walked out the victor, leaving the loser a bloody mess.

Jaune did not want to be a bloody mess. The thought alone of being stuck in a cage with no escape as some trained killer walked him down until they finally reached him and thrashed him caused a vicious shiver to wrack his body.

It was crazy that Ruby thought Jaune could train to be a fighter. Being honest with himself he was a noodle, an average if not gangly student. Sure he worked out on occasion, but he could still barely do more than 20 push ups.

He was no athlete. Ever since he was a kid he was always a little lower than the middle of the pack, never last to be picked for sports, but surely never first.

“Mr. Arc, if you’re going to be playing on your scroll in my class, I hope you already decided on the subject for your film project,” said the professor. Her stern demeanor looked over Jaune as he sat in the back of the class waiting for a response, dragging him from his thoughts.

He cursed his luck as now the other students shifted their gaze onto him. Trying to direct the attention away from himself he quickly answered, “Yes Ma’am. I have.”

“What would that be?”

“Er, a fantasy adventure…” he trailed off, as snickers from his fellow classmates echoed around the room. With a grumble he shoved his scroll into his pocket and slouched over his desk. Of course the professor would call him out, she was famous for signaling people who slacked in her class. Free willed the film major may be, she still ran her courses on a short lease.

A sigh of pleasure escaped his lips when the professor’s phone went off, her alarm signaling class was over.

“Your choice aside Mr. Arc, don’t forget I need an actual script submitted by the end of the week. That includes the whole class as well. Alright, I won’t keep you late, have a good rest of your day class,” said the professor as some students already filed out and others were packing up their belongings.

Jaune grabbed his bag and made headway towards the door, not registering any of the events which occurred in the last hour. He must have lost track of time since he started browsing at the start of class.

Lost in his thoughts of cage fighting when he had twenty percent of his grade on the line.

Jaune left the cold confines of the classroom for the warm weather of outside, as he started his trek towards his college's cafeteria. Vale University may charge an arm and a leg for tuition, but it at least kept the students well fed. Jaune’s stomach rumbled, a club sandwich would truly hit the spot.

Two quick taps on his shoulder paused Jaune in his food related thoughts. 

A girl with chocolate brown hair, reaching towards the lower part of her back, met his stunned eyes. One dainty hand reached out towards Jaune, while the other hand clenched the end of a matching brown sweater. She wore a pleated skirt and a pair of black tights which encased her long legs as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. He only noticed this because she looked nervous, not that he was checking her out.

Even if he was he couldn’t really blame himself. She was a cute bunny girl and she wanted to talk to him for crying out loud. His hormonal thoughts whined as his eyes trailed back up her form to the long furry ears which rested on the top of the girl’s head.

Realizing that he had been staring, Jaune quickly shook his head back and forth, meeting her eyes he asked, “Did you need something?”

“Um, I thought it was you, but I couldn’t tell from the back. I just wanted to thank you for what you did,” she said, as she bowed gratefully to the blonde.

Jaune momentarily was confused until realization clicked into place. She was the girl from yesterday. The same one who was getting her ears pulled on by Cardin and his gang of bullies. With one hand running through his hair he responded, “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t really do much.”

This time it was the girl’s turn to shake her head as she refused his statement, “No really, you saved me from those guys. I don’t know what I would have done if you didn’t lead them away.”

“Ah, well it looked painful, how’d you end up in that situation anyway?”

“They got me while I was distracted. By the time I noticed them they already were tugging on my ears.” While rubbing one of the appendages, she added, “They’re sensitive, I couldn’t move much after that.”

“At least you look okay today?” he thought as he tried not to squeal at the cute gesture.

“Me? I should be asking you. When they all chased after you they looked like they were ready to murder! Throwing garbage at someone isn't normally the best idea you know?”

“Hey, that was my lunch,” responded Jaune defensively as the girl laughed. “It worked didn't it?”

“I guess it did,” she said with a small smile. “You still didn’t answer my question. Are you okay?”

Jaune shrugged in response, wincing as it pulled on one of the bruised spots that had been nagging at him all day. When the girl looked to say something he quickly reassured her by saying, “I’m alright, really I am. Just a little sore, they roughed me up a bit, but someone stepped in and they left pretty quickly after that.”

The girl breathed out a sigh of relief at his words before speaking, “That’s good. I was worried all night on what I would do if someone else got hurt because of me.”

“Because of you? How could any of that be your fault? They were harassing you!” Jaune shouted incredulously. When other students nearby turned to stare at his outburst, he quickly turned red.

The girl giggled and extended a hand out in greeting, “As a faunus you get used to that kind of stuff. I’m just glad I get to meet my hero. Nice to meet you, my name is Velvet Scarlatina.”

“Jaune, Jaune Arc,” he said, while giving her hand a warm shake, choosing not to go with his normal corny line considering she was already laughing.

“Are you a student here?” he asked. Being that they were on a school campus, and the fact she had a book bag draped over her shoulder, he quickly amended, “What’s your major?”

“I’m a photography major, in fact I was taking photos yesterday when those guys found me. What about you?”

“I’m in film, I was just headed to the cafeteria to grab something to eat and work on a script.”

“Oh, sorry then I won’t keep you. I was heading to another class anyways when you caught my eye. Here let me give you my number, I’ll treat you to coffee sometime.”

“Velvet, that’s not really necessary.”

“It’s fine. I insist. I wanted to thank you for yesterday and anyways my best friend Coco would love to meet you after I told her about what happened.”

Not having a stronger argument and not willing to refuse a cute girl who wanted to hang out with him, Jaune handed over his scroll to which she quickly punched in her number.

“Alright, I really have to go or I’ll be late, but I’ll see you around. See you Jaune,” she waved, as she bounded off to the photography department building.

Jaune stood alone for a few moments stunned at the recent turn of events. A girl talked to him, a cute bunny girl who wanted to talk to him again over coffee.

With a smile he pocketed his scroll and turned to continue on towards the cafeteria a little peppier in his steps.

~/~

Half a turkey club and a side of chips down, Jaune pulled out his scroll ready to make progress on the professor’s project. He had an idea for his short film, but he was having trouble working out the details. 

He opened up the film’s storyboard document as he pondered. Jaune wanted to showcase a classic hero’s journey, but tried to be creative with the theme. 

Jaune had set the premise to be in a fantasy RPG world where everyone was born with a class indicated above their head which determined their caste and role in life. His main character, born to be a laborer or a blacksmith of the commoner caste, strove to do better for himself in the world, and so he hid his identity to become a hero. 

The blacksmith would go on mighty adventures, do good deeds, and eventually fall in love with a deadly assassin, all while keeping his birth class a secret.

If Jaune could pull it off it would be an awesome story. Now he just had to write it.

With a sigh Jaune took a swig of grape soda as he slouched in his chair. He had the same road block from the beginning of the semester when the project had just been assigned. He had his idea, but just couldn’t figure out a way to implement it into a script. 

What kind of obstacles should the hero fight? A black tentacle monster? No, too close to a fetish he didn’t want to know about. An evil witch who commanded the grim? No, what kind of cliche is that, too expected. 

With a sigh he slumped further in his seat, his progress being a big fat nothing.

As he stared at the blank document his eyes drifted off to some of the other tabs opened in his browser. He’d been working hard planning out his film, he deserved a break.

Jaune moused over his tabs. His most recent search, “Beacon Academy” popped up. Vale’s most famous fighters came from Beacon, the top gym where the best of the best trained. Though he didn’t know much of the sport, the articles talked about a lot of champions from Beacon.

The Academy apparently spared no expense to make sure its gym had the best equipment available.

The esteem was great and all until he stumbled across a forum targeted for other martial artists. Sherwolf was a huge website with various articles and videos for fighting. The Beacon thread apparently being a hot issue to discuss.

The forum’s most heated topic trending at the moment was rumors of the training intensity at the gym. There were multiple people who complained the fighters there went full force when training and that ambulances were called to the gym frequently enough for the EMTs to know the directions by heart.

 

It definitely didn’t help the image Jaune was forming in his head about fighting. What kind of people went there? If Ruby could beat up four people by herself what would that mean if it was just him.

The loud laughter from a group of men who entered the cafeteria drew away Jaune’s attention from his screen and immediately froze him in place once he got sight of who it was.

His whole body started to throb when the sight of Cardin and his group of friends walked into the general dining area with trays of food in hand. They looked to be worse off than Jaune as most of them had bandages covering their faces. One member had a huge mass of gauze over his nose. Ruby must have broken it.

When their eyes drifted over the area in search of a seat, Jaune sank into his chair and prayed to Oum they wouldn't notice him. They were students here too? What were the chances?

The group of bullies soon walked towards an empty booth and Jaune took it as his cue to leave.

He quickly stowed his scroll, grabbed his bag and tray with his half eaten lunch on it. As he got up to trash it, Jaune caught the mumbling of the Mohawked member, Russell if he remembered correctly.

Leaning in to inform his group, Russell said to the larger man, “Hey Cardin isn’t that the guy?”

At that Jaune decided that discretion was the better part of valor and sprinted out of the cafeteria.

~/~

Ruby Rose was ecstatic. She hopped, skipped, and jumped her way down to the bus stop. Not only was she done with classes for the day, but Yang had also promised her a spar when she got to the gym. 

Her gym bag full of all her precious equipment added a familiar weight, swayed along with her excited movements, as she continued along past the odd student who stepped out of her path.

Honestly, this feeling had been with her all day to the point where she found it hard to sit in her classes. 

She had to sit on her hands to prevent herself from wriggling around in excitement during her English course. Though the look she got from her professor made her blush, when she thought about what happened yesterday she quickly didn’t care and had to try extra hard not to jump out of her seat.

Ruby had made a friend! It still counted, even if Jaune was getting beaten up at the time and didn’t look like he was in the mood to talk, they still had a fun conversation.

Extremely thankful she decided to go on a run that day as about 20 minutes in she heard muffled cries for help. When she had drifted from her route she found a group of meanies ganging up on Jaune. He was okay, which was good, and she was able to protect someone, which was even better.

She used what she learned to protect someone on the streets. It was awesome.

He even agreed to visit her gym. When Ruby told him about where she trained everyday he looked hesitant at first, but after she asked him very nicely he said he would think about it, which was as good as a yes. He just had to try and she was sure Jaune would love it.

Who didn’t like fighting? When she sparred there was no awkward small talk. She let her hard work do the talking.

Ruby jumped and added a twirl for good measure at the thought, she made a friend and she got a training buddy all in the same day. It still counted that they were the same person, yeap, definitely.

Today was a great day.

That is until she smashed into another student. While running along in her optimism she failed to notice the tall person she ran into. With her speed and the boy’s lack of awareness, the inevitable occurred. A painful collision.

Ouch, she thought today was maybe a bit not as great.

They both collapsed into a heap that could be vaguely described as a human pretzel. When they finally settled Ruby quickly looked up into the blue eyes of the boy who cushioned her fall. 

He was pretty tall, well everyone was tall compared to her, but he was definitely a bit taller than average, likely to be at least six feet. The boy wore a black hoodie with a super adorable bunny sewn on the chest, and his blonde hair lay disheveled as his eyes spun in dazed circles.

“Oh my gosh, sorry are you okay?”

“It’s not the worse thing to happen to me this week Ruby.”

How did he know my name, wait a minute, “Jaune?”

“In the flesh, it feels like we’ve been in this situation before,” said her new friend, as he indicated the position they were in, with her hands pressed against his chest.

Ruby eeped as she flung herself off the already bruised blonde, “What are you doing here?”

He gingerly picked himself up and when he got to his feet he offered her a hand as he said, “I kind of go to school here. I think the better question is what are you doing here, aren't you a little young to attend Vale U?”

That struck a chord with the petite brunette as her cheeks puffed up and she glared at her friend, “Hey I’m a student here too. I may have skipped a few years, but I’m technically a freshman.”

“Really, we’re in the same year? What’s your major?”

“I’m undecided yet, I’m mostly just taking the general courses for now.”

“Whoa, what’s in this bag? Did you fill it with rocks.”

At that her friend / training partner wasn’t straining exactly, but looked more surprised at the weight of her training bag. Quickly grabbing the bag from his hands she beamed back at Jaune as she said, “Nope, that’s all my training equipment for when I get to Beacon today.”

They continued talking about random things that had happened in their day as they made their way to the bus stop. After a few steps Ruby gasped, turned to look at her new friend, and said, “That’s right, Jaune when are you coming? I already told my sister and the trainers about you yesterday and they were excited to see you.”

“Ruby, about that…” Jaune trailed off, as he looked away from her while running a hand through his hair.

Why did Jaune sound weird? Was he still hurt from the other night?

Her eyebrows pulled together as she waited for her friend to finish his thought.

“...It’s just… I don’t think I’ll be attending class at Beacon,” he finally finished, as he turned back to her.

“What? Why?!” she asked, as her voice climbed a few octaves. Training was the most awesome thing to do, so what could possibly be wrong where he didn’t want to show up?

“I don’t think I could hurt someone like that. I looked into cage fighting and it just seems so violent.” Jaune’s eyes looked left and right, he took a deep breath, met her eyes and said, “My mom always says strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet. So, I can’t imagine myself beating them up until they’re a bloody mess.”

A snort escaped her followed shortly by a snicker and then finally full blown laughter which caused her to hold her belly as she laughed.

Jaune looked shocked for a second before a different emotion played on his face.

Gah, was he upset?

Not wanting to cause a misunderstanding the brunette stifled her laughter to the best of her abilities as she tried to explain, a few giggles still escaping her.

“Jaune, martial arts isn't all about violence and beating up another person.”

Her blonde friend’s odd look shifted to one more of confusion.

“It isn't?” he asked.

“Pft, of course not. That kinda stuff is only in the movies or for pros. Sure professional fighters can look violent, but they don’t do it for that reason.”

When Jaune still looked uncertain Ruby continued on, “Martial arts is more about bettering yourself. You train and repeat the same move over and over again, until your brain and body hurt, so that by tomorrow you’re just a bit better than yesterday. It isn't about hurting someone at all.”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“It’s about overcoming a struggle. The feeling when you learn a new move or when you push yourself even when your body wants to give up, that sense of achievement of doing something great is why most people do martial arts. Not to mention for self defense and it’s good exercise.”

“I guess?”

“Erk, it’s hard to explain...Oh, I know! Are you free now?”

He glanced at his watch as he shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t really have anywhere to go. I was just trying to avoid someone and do some work.”

“Perfect, come with me.” With that Ruby tugged on Jaune’s arm as she ran off towards her intended destination, ignoring the stumble and the questions being directed to her by the taller boy.

She had the best idea.

~/~

“I don’t think this is the best idea,” said Jaune, as he watched his savior from yesterday pull out various gloves and other equipment from her bag.

Ruby, in the process of stuffing her hand into one of the the larger puffier gloves, like the ones boxers used, looked a little too enthused. Her bright red gloves were detailed with a black rose on the back of the hand and the words “crescent rose” printed on the palms. Another pair of thinner gloves lay by her side following the same pattern scheme.

She had tugged him by the arm and lead him all the way to a park near the campus, ignoring all his questions regarding where they were going and what they were doing until they arrived. He was pulled past small children playing tag and elderly people feeding birds until they reached a flat patch with neatly trimmed grass, fenced in by a small grove of trees. 

Ruby remained silent as she dropped her bag on the ground and began putting on the stylized gloves, a large grin on her face.

Feeling a sense of worry at the situation, Jaune felt he needed to repeat himself, especially when he saw her put the matching glove on her other hand.

“Ruby, I don’t think this is the best idea.”

“Pshh nah, you don’t even know what I’m going to do.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Well, you were scared about coming to the gym,” she began, as she swung her arms horizontally across her body to stretch. “I figured I could bring you here. I brought most my gear with me so we could spar.”

“That's what I meant by it not being a good idea Ruby. Also I never said I was scared,” he added as he fixed her with a mock glare.

“Sure, whatever you say Jaune. Anyways put these gloves on! We can do some tap sparring and you’ll see there’s nothing to be worried about,” she said, with a puffed chest and one arm outstretched holding the thinner pair of gloves.

“Ruby, even if I wanted to, I have no idea how to do anything let alone spar.”

At that Ruby blinked owlishly at him for a few seconds, before she laughed as she rubbed the back of her head.

“Ah, I guess so. Sorry I guess I got a bit carried away, I’m kind of a fighting geek.” She looked a bit embarrassed until something clicked and her usual cheer sprang back into place.

“I know what to do Jaune, I’ll teach you how to shuffle!”

“As in cards?”

“Noo, like the way boxers or fighters move,” she said, while demonstrating a quick series of sliding movements he recognized from when she took down Cardin and crew. “It’s what I first learned when I started, after all my uncle would always say footwork makes the fighter. It’s also not violent and you won’t get hurt I promise.”

What she demonstrated looked simple enough and not willing to ruin her infectious cheer he relented, “Alright Ruby, what do I have to do?”

“Yes!” she said, with a fist pump before standing completely straight with her legs set roughly shoulder width apart, toes straight forward. “Okay, to start, stand like this.”

After putting down his bag and shucking off his hoodie Juane stood next to her side as he copied her stance.

“First, you’re going to slide your lead leg forward about half a step. It should end up where your lead foot’s heel is in line with your back foot’s toe,” she said, as she demonstrated by sliding her left leg slightly ahead of her right foot.

“Now this stance is called an orthodox stance, it’s the more common way fighters stand. If you put your right leg forward it’s called southpaw, but really just pick whichever you feel the most comfortable.” Again she demonstrated both stances by switching between the two.

Jaune followed her instructions and eventually settled with having his left leg in the front. Once he had settled on that stance Ruby beamed and continued, “Nice, the way you stand is always a little different for each fighter, depending on if you’re doing boxing, kickboxing, MMA or grappling.”

The blonde interrupted her speech for clarification, “MMA?”

“Oh, it stands for Mixed Martial Arts, it’s a style of fighting where all martial arts compete in, so besides for a few really dangerous moves almost anything goes,” she continued without missing a beat. 

“Depending on which type of fighting you do you’ll wanna change your stance, boxing for example will have you turn your lead foot in, but I’ll show you the MMA one since I think it’s the best. From where you are pivot your rear foot to where it is pointing outwards at a forty five degree angle.”

He tried his best to imitate Ruby’s movements. It took much longer than expected to perform, in what was ultimately just shifting his feet. Eventually Jaune got it right, from the first pose, which made it look like he was walking, as if ready to kick a soccer ball.

Ruby, once she saw him copy her, smiled and added the next step, “Good Jaune, so next what you want to do is shift your stance where your knees follow in line with your feet, no bow legged or knobby knees okay?”

She giggled at him as he huffed at her, “Perfect, next are the fine adjustments, put your weight on the balls of your feet enough where you could lift your heels off and bounce around, while making sure you evenly distribute your weight in each leg.”

When Jaune tried to emulate what she described he wobbled slightly. It felt like standing on stilts where every slight change of weight threatened to topple him. 

Ruby saw the blonde’s posture and laughed, “No not like that Jaune, you’re standing too tall. My Uncle Qrow always says to imagine you have just enough space under your heel to slide a playing card under, but nothing more. If you stand too high not only are you off balance, but you’ll get tired faster.”

After a quick adjustment, he settled a little lower in his stance and finally felt comfortable. A couple of test bounces later revealed that he actually felt pretty stable.

Ruby seemed pleased as well as she exclaimed, “Perfect Jaune, there you go, a perfect MMA stance. We can work on where you place your hands next, but the main thing is how to move.” She demonstrated by doing a couple of fast steps that looked like she was gliding across the ground.

“The shuffle is super important! It helps you move around really fast to make sure you can hit bad guys and stay safe. What you want to do is if you are going forward you take a quick step with your lead leg and then drag the back leg along.” She demonstrated this in an exaggerated slow motion.

When Juane tried to copy her it felt like he was sliding along the ground.

“If you want to move back do the opposite. Step backward with your rear foot and slide the lead,” Ruby said, as she demonstrated for the blonde by sliding backwards and forwards in very quick and elegant movements several times faster than his own.

After a few minutes, Ruby grinned up at the blonde and said, “Now that you got the hang of it want to race?”

“I don’t think-”

“Come on Jaune stop worrying about everything,” she whined. “If you win I’ll stop calling you a chicken.”

“You never called me a chicken.”

“I’ll stop thinking it then.”

Jaune’s eyes narrowed at that comment, as he agreed to her terms, “You’re on.”

Ruby grinned and pointed to a tree about thirty feet away while saying, “First one to go there and come back wins.”

“Alright.”

“Rules are you have to shuffle the whole time, no running and on the trip back you have to go backwards okay?”

“I got it,” he said, as he took a few seconds to resume the proper stance Ruby had just taught him. The girl herself grinned as she took her spot on the impromptu starting line, easily stepping into the same stance.

“On your mark, get set, go!” she shouted.

At the sound Jaune surged forward, sliding forward as fast as he possibly could. He knew Ruby was better than him, much better, but figured his longer legs would carry him to victory, as he could take longer strides per step than the smaller girl.

He was wrong.

From the start Ruby slid forward like a rocket and was already half way back by the time he had even made it to the tree. Evidently experience won this contest.

They repeated the contest a few times over, adding a variation each time. Once they went in a zigzag motion, another in an L shape. Ruby won each race in dominating fashion. After his 10th defeat Jaune collapsed onto the soft grass, his calves burning from the appearingly simple exercise.

Ruby ended the contest with a pat on his shoulder as she said, “And there you go Jaune. You completed the first step to being a fighter. Footwork!”

“I don’t feel like a fighter.”

“Baby steps, young one, baby steps,” she said sagely. “You’re already making progress. I started learning with the same game, though when I first started we competed over cookies.”

“Oh, how old were you when you first started?”

“Six, my mom used to be a pro fighter so she would teach my sister Yang and me all her secrets and we got started with footwork too.”

“Used to?”

“Yeah, she passed away a little while back,” Ruby said with a much smaller smile on her normally expressive face.

“I’m sorry Ruby, I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No don’t worry about it, it happened a long time ago and now I have my big sister, Uncle Qrow and my Dad who all teach and train me. It’s not too bad anymore,” she said with a grin just a bit weaker than normal.

Wanting to change the topic Jaune added, “That’s why you want to be a pro? Your whole family does it?”

“Not exactly, my sis is the only one competing. Uncle Qrow and my Dad retired a couple of years back, they just train us now.”

“I see,” Jaune said, not knowing exactly where to go from there.

“Yeah, I love my family for it,” she said with a normal supercharged grin. “What about you, not as violent as you thought it would be right?”

“I doubt this is what all classes are like.”

“Not always, but you had fun today right?”

Did he? As Jaune laid on his back looking up at the lazy afternoon sky, next to his savior, a cheerful girl who could break noses, but could just as easily turn red at attention, he had just spent a good hour dashing around like a kid and it wasn’t what he expected.

He did like the feeling he was getting better at a skill, kind of like leveling up in one of his video games or in the script he was writing.

“Yeah, I guess so. It was pretty fun Ruby,” Jaune said, as he grinned up to the sky.

“Hehe, I’m glad. Do you want to meet up again tomorrow? I know you're hesitant about going to the gym, but we’re friends,” she paused, as she sat up and stared at him. “We are friends right?”

“Ruby you saved me from getting beaten into a fine mush. We’re best friends.” At that her grin grew a notch larger.

“Well, as your friend I say we hang out. So tomorrow Jaune?”

“Okay,” he said, as he got up to dust himself off.

Ruby’s scroll went off in the aftermath of their conversation. She too hopped up to dust herself off and answered her phone. “Hello Yang? Oh geez, no please, don’t leave! I’ll be right there. Yes I’m sorry that I’m late, but you promised me a spar today. Gah! Okay, okay, I’m coming right now pleaseeeeee don’t leave without me,” the brunette said, as she became a blur of motion, quickly gathering up all her gear, and surged off towards town.

She turned mid run to shout back in a smashed together sentence, “Bye Jaune see you tomorrow!”

Jaune waved back at the energetic girl as she dashed off and began gathering his things as he thought about the day’s events.

His normal life was always more quiet, where people ignored him and he blended into the background, but in one day a bunny girl came up to talk to him, he had to dash out of the cafeteria and he got martial arts lessons from a girl who he witnessed demolish four other grown men.

Jeez, what could tomorrow bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still working on posting chapters until I get caught up to date. Sorry about the irregular posting here, I am still strying to get used to posting on both websites. Please check me out on fanfiction if you can't wait, you have 20 chapters to read there!

**Author's Note:**

> I will be posting chapters regularly until I catch up to the current chapter on Fanfiction. Check me out over there if you can't wait!


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